Toyota Projects Record 2013 Sales on Overseas Auto Demand

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), poised to regain
its title as the world’s biggest carmaker this year, said its
vehicle sales may rise 2 percent next year to a record, led by
demand from overseas markets.

Global sales, including those of subsidiaries Hino Motors
Ltd. (7205) and Daihatsu Motor Co. (7262), may climb to 9.91 million vehicles
in 2013, the Toyota City, Japan-based company said yesterday in
an e-mailed statement. The maker of the Corolla and the Camry
sedan estimates sales expanded 22 percent to a record 9.7
million this year, the biggest gain since at least 2000.

Toyota is counting on the U.S. to boost sales next year,
countering a projected 15 percent drop in Japan, where
government subsidies to purchasers of fuel-efficient vehicles
expired in September. The automaker’s 2013 forecast surpasses
the previous high of 9.37 million units in 2007, before the
global financial crisis sapped demand.

“After the subsidies expired in September, car sales in
Japan didn’t fall tremendously, so Toyota’s forecast for
domestic deliveries to drop 15 percent next year is bigger than
we expected,” Yoshiaki Kawano, a Tokyo-based industry analyst
at IHS Automotive. “The U.S. will continue to lead sales next
year, but the growth level at Japanese carmakers will match the
industry’s, unlike this year, where they all outperformed the
market.”

Sales Title

The maker of the Prius, the world’s best-selling gas-
electric hybrid car, is set to regain the title of world’s best-
selling automaker from General Motors Co. (GM) and Volkswagen AG (VOW3) this
year, as the industry heads for a record year. Global 2012 sales
will top 80 million cars and trucks for the first time, as
robust U.S. and Japanese purchases offset a European downturn,
according to estimates from LMC Automotive.

In 2013, Toyota’s overseas sales will rise 8 percent to
7.87 million, while deliveries in Japan will decline to 2.04
million, the company said in the statement.

“We expect sales in the U.S. and Asia to continue to rise
next year,” Joichi Tachikawa, a Tokyo-based spokesman for the
Japanese carmaker, said yesterday by phone. “Asia’s sales will
be driven by Indonesia, while for the U.S., models such as
Avalon and Lexus LS will likely help boost sales.”

Toyota said last month it will build a new engine factory
in Indonesia to more than double capacity, part of a plan by the
automaker and its related companies to invest 13 trillion rupiah
($1.3 billion) in the Southeast Asian country over the next five
years.

China Sales

For China, Toyota hasn’t fixed a 2013 sales target as the
automaker doesn’t yet know how much this year’s deliveries will
be, Tachikawa said.

Toyota’s China deliveries in the 11 months through November
fell 3.3 percent to 749,600 units, setting the automaker on
course for its first annual sales decline in the country on
record. Sales have plunged in the months since violent anti-
Japan protests broke out in cities in September across China.

Worldwide production will be 9.94 million vehicles next
year, almost unchanged from 9.92 million this year, according to
the automaker.

Daihatsu sales may drop 3 percent to 840,000 units next
year, while Hino will probably see deliveries increase 12
percent to 170,000 vehicles, the company said.